Excel File Data Validation for SQL Server Imports
Jeffrey Yao suggests a solution to validate Excel data via PowerShell and Regular Expressions.
2015-09-14
3,457 reads
Articles
MCSA 70-462 Training Kit Preparation: Hyper-V Lab Environment Setup
If you are planning on taking the Microsoft Certification Exam for 70-462, this guide provides the step-by-step instructions to completely setup your Hyper-V lab environment used in the official training kit.
2015-09-11 (first published: 2013-11-25)
19,216 reads
PowerShell and ADO.NET Connection String Settings for SQL Server
Tim Smith addresses some common questions from PowerShell developers about connection strings, errors with strings, and alternative development approaches to using connection strings.
2015-09-11
3,709 reads
When to Quote in PowerShell
The one question about PowerShell that trips up almost everyone is about when and how to quote strings. Because PowerShell replaces the old command shell, it has to be able to work the way that it did with string parameters, but it also has to behave like a .NET scripting language to replace VBA. In this article, Michael Sorens explains the how and when of PowerShell quoting.
2015-09-10
3,703 reads
More on CXPACKET Waits: Skewed Parallelism
When cardinality estimates are incorrect, the parallel threads doing the query work are given uneven amounts of work to do. This problem can lead to a seeming explosion in CXPACKET waits occurring and is commonly called skewed parallelism; Paul Randal explains how to check for it.
2015-09-09
3,469 reads
SQL 2016: Columnstore row group Merge policy and index maintenance improvements
Denzil Ribeiro looks at how SQL Server 2016's new Merge functionality in INDEX REORGANIZE simplifies Columnstore index maintenance significantly.
2015-09-08
3,007 reads
2015-09-07
2,316 reads
Building Databases: One Man’s Best Practice?
One man’s meat is often another man’s poison. In this editorial Tony Davis looks at why a migrations-based approach to database version control might not always be best practice.
2015-09-07
6,262 reads
Hidden Tricks To SQL Server Table Cleanup
How to delete millions of rows with virtually no contention.
2015-09-04 (first published: 2013-03-06)
28,368 reads
An Introduction to the OpenPOWER Foundation
In a bid to challenge Intel's dominance of high performance computing environments, IBM have introduced OpenPOWER, a flexible open-source framework based on their POWER processor architecture. Robert Sheldon looks at the potential of this new platform.
2015-09-04
4,562 reads
Blogs
Upgrading SQL Server Containers on the Laptop
By Steve Jones
I don’t have SQL Server installed on my laptop. In an effort to keep...
How to Find Expensive Queries in Amazon Redshift
Slow-running queries can degrade your Redshift cluster’s performance and lead to increased costs. Identifying...
The Notification Trap: How Input Fatigue Is Killing Deep Work in Tech
By gbargsley
If you've been here before, you know this blog is usually about SQL Server,...
Forums
SQL 2019 instance with AG, across 2 Windows 2016 OS servers - OSin-place upgrade
Hi all Can I get some perspective from the community please on performing in-place...
How Long is a Long I/O?
Comments posted to this topic are about the item How Long is a Long...
T-SQL Trigonometric Functions in SQL Server
Comments posted to this topic are about the item T-SQL Trigonometric Functions in SQL...
Question of the Day
How Long is a Long I/O?
In SQL Server 2025, a long I/O is recorded in the error log with message 833. How long much an I/O request be outstanding before this message is written to the log?
See possible answers